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It was great to see some new faces at our AGM and Afternoon Tea last Sunday. A friendly and relaxed affair.

Lala opened the meeting with an update. Since 2013 Save Straiton has fought six wind farms and defeated five with Linfairn the last to be withdrawn. Sadly Dersalloch, which started in 2007, was too far in the pipeline for us to influence the outcome. After a successful stint of over four years as Chair, Lala stood down. Glen Heggs took over as Chair but Lala intends to stay on the Committee.

Glen thanked Lala for leading Save Straiton in a focused and professional manner. We’re seen as a responsible organisation. So much so that we were invited to participate as an equal party in the Public Local Inquiry (PLI) for Kiers Hill. The Reporter recommended refusal and Lala, assisted by Whirly Marshall, played a major role. Tom Dowman presented Lala with a bouquet in appreciation for her hard work, vision and leadership skills.

Currently we are in the fortunate position of not having a wind farm or other unsuitable development to oppose. Despite this the Committee is recommending that Save Straiton be maintained for when and if any proposals arise needing our expertise. This could be in a couple of years as Scottish Power Renewables have erected a met mast at Linfern Loch which can only be with the intention of developing a wind farm in Forestry Commission ground. We’ll also be supporting the formation of a Galloway National Park and working with the Community Council to protect the Parish of Straiton and surrounding communities. It was therefore agreed that Save Straiton for Scotland continue with the following team:

Chris Johnson gave an overview of the financial situation. We have £3,073 in the bank which will be kept as a fighting fund for the future. He suggested that those who had made regular contributions to Save Straiton might consider cancelling the arrangements in the meantime.

We would stress that it’s important to let us know if you hear of any development proposals which might affect us and our immediate communities. We’re aware of the gold mining proposals in the Forest Park and that developers RES have retained an option on the land at Keirs Hill and are keeping an eye on these. The remit of SSfS is to defend against any and all inappropriate development that would seek to undermine the uniquely special landscape, environment, heritage and ecosystem which define Straiton and its environs.

We believe the formation of the Galloway National Park would benefit this area and recommend that people sign up for £5 to be kept informed and show their support. To find out more click here

Finally, our raffle raised £118 which will be donated to the McCandlish Hall towards new facilities and £80 was raised for Save Straiton from the sale of James Fullarton’s prints and other paintings.

You are cordially invited to join us for Afternoon Tea on Sunday 3rd March in the McCandlish Hall in Straiton. Our AGM will start at 2.30pm and Afternoon Tea will be served at 3pm should you wish to come along later.

After a five and a half year battle with WilloWind, we are relieved and delighted to report that they have withdrawn their application to develop Linfairn wind farm.

In their letter to the DPEA, WilloWind’s legal team admitted that “further data that was obtained earlier this year has led them to conclude that the scheme cannot be realised”. As many of our supporters already know, the further data in question was noise data – work they were forced to undertake at the insistence of SSfS after our painstaking analysis revealed non-compliant methods and an inaccurate baseline assessment.

Apart from the noise issues we firmly believed the scheme was completely unacceptable for many other reasons: the immense and oppressive impact on the landscape of the upper Girvan valley; its proximity to neighbouring homes and the devastating consequences it would have on those living in them, including the nuisance of light flicker; and the impacts on ecology, tourism, traffic and water quality.

SSfS is immensely grateful to the thousands of people from all over the world who objected to this appalling proposal and to everyone who campaigned, raised funds and supported us in our long struggle.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our recent AGM and Afternoon Tea and who generously donated to help with the campaign. Over £900 was raised.

There were no changes to the office bearers: Lala Burchall-Nolan remains as Chair, Glen Heggs as Vice Chair and Chris Johnston as Treasurer. Chris took over from Tom Dowman during the year and Tom remains a committee member along with Sandy Millar and Bea Holden. Lala thanked Tom for all his work as Treasurer. She also thanked Dorothy and Peter Hadden for their invaluable support during the five years of the campaign.

Many thanks to Jeanette Heggs and her team who provided some delicious home-baking, laid out the tables beautifully and kept the teas and coffees flowing. Everyone had an enjoyable afternoon and were brought up-to-date on the campaign.

We do not expect to know when the Public Local Inquiry into the Linfairn wind farm application will be held until August at the very earliest. The PLI could be held late autumn or possibly next year.

Join us for Afternoon Tea at 3pm in the McCandlish Hall, Straiton and enjoy some delicious home baking and get all the latest news on the campaign. If you wish you can come along earlier, at 2.30pm, and join us for our AGM.

We’ve had many successes over the past five years and hopefully, with one last push, we’ll defeat the Linfairn application at the Public Inquiry.

All donations would be gratefully received; we intend to employ an expert witness at the Inquiry.

SSE have abandoned their plans to extend Hadyard Hill wind farm with another 22 turbines. South Ayrshire’s Planning Committee had recommended refusal which meant a Public Local Inquiry would be held. SSE stated that they “decided for commercial reasons not to proceed with this particular application.”

We are delighted. The proposal would have had serious negative impacts on the Stinchar and Girvan valleys and many homes would have suffered unacceptable effects.

“Bigger is Better and Scotland’s stepping stone to the future”

According to the wind energy industry “Bigger is Better”, because bigger turbines will generate more electricity and compensate financially for the recent reduction in government subsidies.

There are around 3000 wind turbines across Scotland. Inadequate government control of the distances between turbines and homes has already allowed developers to unintentionally degrade the health of many victims, and even drive families out of their homes. There is also clear scientific evidence that even bigger turbines will increase their existing sound power emissions, along with the accompanying infrasound and potential adverse health impacts on those affected. By way of example, the two very large ‘test’ turbines erected by Scottish and Southern Electricity at Hunterston in North Ayrshire have grossly affected the health of people living on the Isle of Cumbrae and in Fairlie, up to 3 km from the turbines. 17 people including 2 children, all complain of similar symptoms. Their GPs can do nothing to help them as their ‘condition’ is not recognised by public health.

Similar symptoms such as loss of balance, nausea, loss of coordination, a pressure in the ear, thumping in the head or chest, urinary and bowel incontinence, epistaxis (high volume nosebleeds) are already being reported from people living in close proximity to turbines and windfarms in other areas of Scotland, UK and elsewhere in the world. Common to all “sufferers” is that the symptoms recede when they move away from the turbines. It is believed that these symptoms are caused by the infrasound emission, which is very low frequency sound.

So, the real problem with wind turbine noise is not audible noise; it is the infrasound emission, and as yet there are neither standards nor planning guidance to deal with it.

This is already a public health catastrophe, which cannot be merely attributed to victims “disliking turbines” or any other pseudo-psychological reasons, or “non-acoustic factors”, as often proposed by the wind energy industry to explain reported adverse health symptoms.

The speakers at the Glasgow Seminar are Professor Mariana Alves Pereria and Dr John Yelland, both acknowledged experts in this highly specialised field of science, which up to now has been largely ignored, to the cost of an ever-increasing number wind farm noise victims.

The Seminar will be of interest to: Anyone Living Close to Turbines, Wind Energy Developers, Public Health Protection Officials, Environmental Health Officers, General Practitioners, Councillors and Council Officers, Members of the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments, and indeed anyone seeking to understand the truth about wind turbine noise.

The Public Local Inquiry (PLI) into Linfairn Wind Farm has been postponed and is now likely be rescheduled for January 2018 at the earliest.

The Applicant has been asked to re-do the work on noise, to ensure the proper background levels are measured and the real impacts on homes can be properly quantified. In February of 2015, SSfS submitted a detailed and considered consultation response to the Applicant’s Addendum. The chapter on noise in that response document detailed our concerns about both the potential for noise nuisance attendant with the Application and the fact that the noise impacts had not been properly measured or reported. If WilloWind, their appointed experts or legal advisors had read our submission, then they would have known for more than two years that this work would be necessary prior to any meaningful examination of the issues at a PLI.

We would, of course, prefer that the PLI be held as soon as possible, but as we said back in 2015, we want the data to be accurate so that the threat of this proposal can be decided on the facts (and hopefully recommended for refusal) and our community can get on with their lives.

In the meantime the Save Straiton committee will be working on our case and those willing to appear as witnesses will be preparing their presentation.

What a delicious way to celebrate our success! Pink bubbly, Pimms and scrumptious baking. Our newly-elected MP, Bill Grant, (pictured above) came along and addressed the gathering giving words of encouragement in our fight against WilloWind and their plans to ruin the upper Girvan valley.

Chair of Save Straiton, Lala, spoke about our recent success and asked everyone to help in the forthcoming Public Inquiry into Linfairn. This can be done in three ways: firstly, you can volunteer to speak at the Inquiry and we’ll give you all the help and support you need. Secondly you can support those who are speaking and/or taking part in the Inquiry by helping them with daily tasks (picking children up, getting baby clothes from http://babyzoom.net/blog/buy-cheap-baby-clothes/, walking dogs, providing sandwiches etc) and thirdly by making a financial contribution to the campaign.

The Public Inquiry sessions will last 10 days and starts on Tuesday 23 October and finishes on Friday 3 November. Please come along and listen to the evidence and support us in what we hope will be our last fight.

A huge thank you to Jeanette and her team who ran the event. Over £1,000 was raised. Thank you to all those who came along to enjoy the afternoon, bought raffle tickets and gave donations.

Our June 2017 newsletter is out now, click here to download a pdf version.

On Wednesday 28 June at 6pm the Pre Enquiry Meeting will be held in the McCandlish Hall. This is a procedural meeting to set a date and location for the Enquiry and various other matters. If you can manage to come along we’d love to see you. Please email Liz Kerr Liz.Kerr@gov.scot to let her know you will be attending so she has an idea of numbers.

Next month we’re having an Afternoon Tea in the Hall. Keep Sunday 23 July free between 2 and 4 for a glass of bubbly, home-made lemonade and some mouth-watering baking.

Brookfield have just announced they are not going to appeal the decision to refuse planning permission for Knockskae wind farm.

They stated “Having considered allfuture avenues for the project and the reasons for the refusal, we have decided not to proceed with an appeal and to close out current and future development work on Knockskae.”

A huge thank you to everyone who objected and to those who spoke out at the Council’s planning meeting. All our hard work spent studying the Application in detail and writing our comprehensive objection has paid off.

The Developer has recognised that this wind farm was just plain wrong.

A huge thank you to all who helped at our Rumble in the Jumble on Saturday. We made massive £1,649.32! The final figure will be even higher after some late sales and donations are counted. A great result!

Thank you to all those who donated such great items for sale including a roof box; some beautiful furniture; an electric Zeiss microscope; vintage cameras and a plethora of excellent gardening and fishing gear, not forgetting toys, clothes and an excellent selection of books.

A very big thank you to all those who helped on the day serving up delicious teas and lunches; running the tombola and caption contest and those who manned the stalls. Thanks also to those who took tables and to everyone who came along and supported the event.

It came at the end of a week when Knockskae was rejected by both the Council’s Planning Department and the Regulatory Planning Committee.

Many thanks to all the folk who turned up in their droves to support speakers at the Council Planning meeting yesterday. The spontaneous round of applause when the Chair of the Planning Panel announced that Brookfield’s Knockskae proposal was refused permission was heartfelt. Especially as some of those who spoke out would feel the full impacts of this monstrous development on a daily basis, affecting their everyday activities and dominating their lives. Your support made all the difference. Thank you.

Next up we have our Rumble in the Jumble. Get down to the village hall this Saturday between 10 and 4 to enjoy a good old fashioned jumble sale…and more! For those averse to jumble there’ll be stalls offering plants, jams, crafts, delicious home baking plus we’ve a great tombola and teas/light lunch will be served in the Reading Room. (so called from 1912 when the room was furnished with newspapers for residents to read without actually buying them).

We’ll look forward to seeing you there!
(plus we’ll even supply a newspaper for you to read)

Just one of the beautiful views we are fighting to save along with protecting people’s homes from wind farm disturbance

Local people fought for it to be refused, the Planning Department recommended refusal and the Regulatory Planning Committee met today and unanimously refused it.

Henry Anderson, Chair of the Community Council was first up, stressing that the overwhelming view of the local community was against this development. Next Glen Heggs, Vice Chair of Save Straiton for Scotland, spoke about the site selection and impact on homes followed by Jeanette Heggs who spoke about the value of the conservation villages. Gordon Ferrie and Bea Holden talked about Straiton’s historical features and the impact on the economy respectively. Whirly Marshall explained eloquently how the development contravened the Wind Capacity Study and the Local Development Plan. Eoghan Baird spoke about the impacts of Shadow Flicker on homes and Colin Nisbet raised deep concerns over contamination of water supplies. Sandy Millar pointed out serious deficiencies in the noise assessments. Barbara Anderson, Isla Cruickshanks and Christine Millar, who all live close to the proposed development, spoke passionately about how this would impact upon their lives if built, and how even the planning application has cast a shadow over their lives.

Finally former Chair, Bill Stevens, told the packed chamber how the people did not support the proposal. Including our petition, over 3,000 people have objected.

All the Councillors agreed the Carrick area has reached saturation point for wind farms, one stating “enough is enough”.

The beautiful Girvan valley would be completely disfigured by turbines as the wireframe illustration shows.

Please come along to support us at the Planning Meeting and show the Panel you care about our village and our community. Several residents of Straiton will be speaking about their concerns over the pollution of private water supplies, shadow flicker, noise disturbance and the destruction of the peaceful, natural setting of our conservation villages. By attending, your support will be greatly appreciated and will make a difference.

The meeting is from 10am – 12 noon on Wednesday 19 April in Country Buildings, Ayr.

Contact us if you require a lift, or if you can offer space in your car. Leave a comment below, your details will not be shown.

10am – 4pm McCandlish Hall, Straiton

The proposed Knockskae wind farm is coming before South Ayrshire’s Planning Panel on 19 April. This is your last chance to object if you haven’t already done so. Click here to read our objection points. Copy and paste, or better still put them into your own words, and email them to the Council. Alternatively you can click on the Council’s own website here select comments and leave your opinions. You have until the end of March.

Please urge all your family and friends to make their opinions known to the Council. This highly visible industrial wind farm would dominate views south from Straiton. Turbines would be seen from the heart of the village, from the play park and from both inside and outside our A-listed Church.

The proposal would form a dominating backdrop to the conservation village of Crosshill, especially when approaching from Maybole. The higher hill on the right in the photograph above would have turbines along it.

National Cycle Route 7 would be severely impacted with turbines very close to this very scenic section of the route.

If you can come along to County Buildings at 10am on April 19 to show your support for our campaign it would be great to see you.

This photograph was taken recently and shows the remains of an anemometer mast lying near the summit of Benbeoch Hill near Dalmellington. We think this was used in scoping for the Burnhead Wind farm but now lies abandoned on the moor land. We wonder if this is normal practice, surely a truly environmental business would not leave scrap lying on a hillside?

Thank you to all those who came along last night to our AGM, and to those who couldn’t manage but expressed their support with donations. We had a splendid turnout to enjoy the mince pies, prosecco and cup cakes. Our Chair, Lala, along with other members of the team gave an update on the campaign and a summary of the finances.

The team will all stay in their current roles except for Tom who wishes to step down as Treasurer when a replacement can be found. Lala highlighted our successes: over 60% of turbines have been withdrawn; Keirs Hill refused; Glenmount withdrawn and the Hadyards Hill Extension reduced in numbers. If anyone would like to join the team we’d love to hear from you. Alternatively, if you don’t want to fully commit, you may wish to be co-opted to research a particular topic which interests you. If you enjoy a party we’d love it if you could assist us in organising some fun events.

Our focus is now on Knockskae and Linfairn. Brookfield, the developer of Knockskae, have postponed the date they want to appear before the Planning Committee until next year, possibly March. The public inquiry into Linfairn is also scheduled for next spring. We’ll ensure they do not overlap and be ready for both.

Our mandate to protect the landscape around Straiton and surrounding communities was supported by all those present. The creation of a Galloway National Park would greatly help to prevent inappropriate developments and it was agreed we would campaign for this.

It’s been a long time coming but it was finally announced that Keirs Hill has been refused by Government Ministers following the Reporter’s recommendation.

After fully considering the wind farm after a public inquiry “Ministers decided that the proposed scheme is not acceptable because of the height of the turbines in this location, as well as the impact on the nearby houses and on historic sites, notably the Waterside ironworks complex.” We agree.

This is especially great news for the people of Waterside, the Doon Valley and Patna who would have faced this towering industrial site every day.

South Ayrshire Council’s planning meeting at which a decision on Knoackskae will be made is scheduled for 14 December. Linfairn is going to a Public Inquiry next spring but if you wish to speak you have to contact the DPEA by 16 November (the deadline was extended).

We’re having our AGM in the McCandlish Hall in Straiton on 1 December at 7.30pm, we’d love to see you there to share the very latest campaign news over a glass of wine and a mince pie.

If you were one of the thousands of folks who objected to Linfairn wind farm please consider participating in the public inquiry and speaking out. You should already have had an invitation to take part. If you did object but haven’t had notification of the inquiry please let us know – it’s vital.

If speaking up in public is something you are unaccustomed to, or nervous of doing, don’t worry. You don’t have to be a polished speaker as the Reporter will be interested in your evidence and your point of view.

At the Keirs Hill Inquiry we gained valuable experience with the Inquiry process and will help you prepare and let you know what to expect. Speaking at an Inquiry is a great opportunity to emphasise your objection to the Reporter in person, especially if you live close to the proposal and are likely to suffer major impacts. We will be taking part as will the Community Council, South Ayrshire Council and private individuals. You will not be alone.

If you are willing to take part in the Public Inquiry please remember to reply by Friday 4 November. If you haven’t opted before the deadline you may regret not doing so later.

The target date for the Inquiry is 7 March 2017. The confirmed date and venue will be published in the Ayrshire Post. We will also publish the information once it is confirmed.

Remember you can only take part if you have already objected, emailliz.kerr@gov.scotquoting ref: WIN-370-1 Linfairn Wind Farm.

Many of you who had objected to Linfairn have received letters from Liz Kerr of the Department of Planning and Appeals to say that although they have a record of your objection they do not have the content. You are invited to resubmit your original objection or supply a new one by 14 September.

It is entirely possible you don’t remember the points you made as there have so many developments to object to. Click here to view a list of points we produced for those wishing to object by email and by post card. Select the ones you feel are the most important to you (by all means copy the whole lot) and email them to liz.kerr@gov.scot

We will be asking for an extension to the deadline as we believe it is not long enough, particularly as many might well be on holiday.

There is to be a public inquiry held to look at the Linfairn proposal, we’ll let you know when the date is announced.

We’ve got storage facilities so if you’d like the stuff out of your way just call Bea on 01655 770247 and we’ll arrange a convenient collection time.

Once we know the exact dates we get the shop we’ll let you know. Please come along to support us you never know what you might pick up!

Funds are needed to pay for landscape experts who write detailed objections to inappropriate wind farm proposals focussing on the landscape aspects. The latest of these proposals is Knockskae; the developer is intending submitting additional information so there is still time to object, click here to go to our email template.

The wind farm would have been sited on the hill across the water totally ruining this beautiful scene.

Trevor Croft, the Reporter who held the Inquiry into Keirs Hill has refused permission for a wind farm near Wigtown Bay. His conclusion is as follows:

“I therefore conclude, for the reasons set out above, that the proposed development does not accord overall with the relevant provisions of the development plan and that there are no material considerations which would still justify granting planning permission. The appellant has acknowledged that the proposal does not accord with the development plan but maintains that other material considerations, notably the renewable energy and climate change benefits of the scheme justify approval. I do not consider that the undoubted renewable energy benefits of the proposal are sufficient to outweigh the adverse impacts on landscape, visual receptors and the cultural heritage. I have considered all the other matters raised, but there are none which would lead me to alter my conclusions.”

We believe if the same criteria are followed for Keirs Hill it will also be rejected. As soon as an announcement is made we’ll let you know.

It’s now known that wind farm construction can have serious detrimental effects to water supplies. Two reservoirs and a water treatment works near Whitelees have been so badly polluted that they’ve been abandoned and a new water pipe brings water from the north of Glasgow to East Ayrshire at a cost to the public of £120 million.

If you have a private water supply and a wind farm is proposed in the area it is essential to find out where your supply is fed from. Wind farm companies should be monitoring water quality over a period of time taking account of differing weather conditions. We’ve found this rarely happens. Make sure there is a geohydrology report and contact the Environmental Health department at South Ayrshire Council if you have any concerns.

Wind farm construction which involves creating tracks, digging cable trenches, borrow pits (quarries, up to 4 metres deep at Knockskae), turbine bases (4 metres deep or more if needed) and hardstanding bases. These can be located some distance from your water supply but can still cause pollution to the water table and private supplies.

Scottish Power Renewables (SPR) managed to get their turbine stuck on top of a bridge on its way to Ewe Hill wind farm in Dumfries and Galloway.

Funnily enough the turbine size is similar to those at Dersalloch, plus there’s a similar bridge to negotiate at Cassillis on the B7045. Again SPR are going to remove the stone parapet – perhaps this time they’ll remember to remove the temporary railing first!

Watching the video gives you a good impression of the scale of the turbines and how disruptive it’s going to be for those living along the route including the village of Kirkmichael.

If you’ve objected to Knockskae wind farm you ought to have received an acknowledgement from South Ayrshire Council. If you haven’t it could be that they have not received your objection, we’ve heard of some folks who’ve had to email three times before receiving an acknowledgment. Please persevere!

The Council continues to accept representations right up to the point they make their own report. We don’t know when that will be but it hasn’t happened yet.

If you have friends, family, neighbours and colleagues who you know would like to object to the ruination of our precious countryside please tell them to do so. We all need to do our bit to protect this beautiful corner of Scotland.

Ayrshire hasn’t escaped the realities of climate change this winter, Storm Frank brought devastation to our communities and ﬂooding to homes, farms and ﬁelds. We all have to do our bit to save the planet.

But did you know that Ayrshire is already doing ten times more than the rest of the country?

Across the UK as a whole there is one wind turbine for every ten thousand people. Here in Ayrshire it’s more like one per thousand. If Knockskae Wind Farm was allowed to go ahead, together with the four other proposals that threaten our community, the picturesque parish of Straiton could end up with one giant industrial turbine for every three residents.

Ayrshire is already doing more, much more, than it’s ‘fair share’ and the Scottish Government is already over-achieving on its renewables targets.

We say: “enough is enough”.

We need to protect what’s left of the beautiful scenery in our corner of Scotland. We need to protect the Merrick Wild Land Area from being irretrievably undermined, the Unesco Biosphere from being plundered and the Dark Sky Park from any more light pollution

We need to protect the jobs and small businesses that rural tourism supports.

We need to protect our homes – disturbing the peat and deforesting the hillsides to plant wind farms will only serve to reduce the ability of our hills and river valleys to cope with next winter’s storms. The thousands of heavy constructions vehicles thundering through conservation villages will cause severe vibration in centuries-old cottages, never built to withstand such an onslaught.

Please tell Ayrshire Council that ‘enough is enough’. The people of Ayrshire have already done more than the rest of the country, we simply can’t afford to give away any more of our countryside.